I guess you'd have to be here... When the fire fell from the sky that night leaving new silent craters in my city I'm talking to you, as I kick the rubble that was my neighbors living room they died months ago You probably won't understand, reading this in the comfort of your western world I guess you had to be there... But I remember where I was that fateful evening Sharing a dinner with my family in our home My sister had leaned forward and knocked her cup of milk onto the cat it hissed and scattered from the room in a clumsy flurry It was the funniest thing we'd seen in a week I guess you had to be there... Not much is funny in a war zone, people don't even smile here And for a moment we had all escaped our daily nightmare My mothers soft face leaned in towards my fathers booming laughter Love was alive in their eyes I guess you had to be there... No alarms, no warnings, no chance for them No well dressed figure on a news screen shuffling papers could have prepared us for this moment A high pitched whistle broke our breathless laughter And in the next 5 seconds 4 things happened: my parents threw their bodies over my sister and I the wall to our right exploded my neighbors died my life changed forever I guess you had to be there... All I could hear was a ringing-pounding sound in my ears my own heart beat was deafening to me I was still coughing and dizzy when my father lifted me from the floor by my shirt collar My mother clutching my crying baby sister in one arm was reaching for me with the other It had happened a thousand times before but never on our street, perhaps had been lucky before But this night the fire had crashed from the sky to my neighbors doormat I guess you had to be there... We were running now My father's iron grip on my wrist was painful as we tripped over boulders and debre A frenzy of ash and bloodied faces in the streets everyone was running now running away, they didn't know where running away to nowhere all they wanted was to stay alive I guess you had to be there... Another roaring whistle above our heads The sonic demon was careening a path in the sky for exactly our direction It couldn't have happened in slow motion but that's how i remember it the screaming was drowned out by the whistle We tried to turn around but we weren't fast enough the intersection in front of us disappeared in a cloud of heat and ash a force moved through the city as if a giant had awoken the earth shook and my face met the concrete I guess you had to be there... Car alarms, more people screaming, I'm coughing, my head is wet the world was catching speed again Rubbing the ashes from my eyes with hands that were hot and covered in my own blood Father, where is father? There he is, 20 feet away stretched across the hood of a Honda truck I raced to wake him, shaking his body It's no use, his skull went through the windshield more blood on my hands A grieving horror struck me more than any bomb that could ever be dropped I guess you had to be there... A wailing child broke my trance My sister! I see her arms stretching towards me from across the street face hot with tears and dust A pair of lifeless shoes are sticking out from a boulder next to her NO! Mama! NO! Another whistle was coming but further off I plummet to my sisters side her tiny fists pull at my t shirt as I failed to move the enormous rock I guess you had to be there... We were alone now, my sister and I I cradled her behind a dumpster until it was over And when morning came I was still awake But I'd never be alive again Numbness scarred my nerves that night The silence of death amongst the thunderous dark has taken my soul One cannot replace a mothers smile or a fathers laughter I guess you had to be there...